This weekend’s episode of SNL was perhaps the best of all season, with a lineup that seemed ripped from the pages of BUST (plus plenty of killer cameos…and one by Bill O’Reilly?) and a distinctly female energy (no doubt stemming from host Maya Rudolph’s presence) that felt like a breath of fresh air—or a gasp for fresh air after laughing so hard at Rudolph and Kristen Wiig’s frozen-chicken-fondling, golf-cart-driving, accent-switching antics in the “Secret Showcase” sketch. The always-welcome and always-wonderful Amy Poehler stopped by to deliver the Weekend Update with Seth Myers, and in their classic “Really!?!” segment, the pair took on an issue that weighed heavily on our minds and weary feminist hearts last week—the Congressional hearing on birth control that included zero women on its panel. Watch Amy go off on politicians who think that women’s bodies are any of their business and the dreadful “personhood” bill that just passed in Virginia, talk about the perks of her favorite airline, and yell “Don’t tell me what to do!”:
It’s been said that humor is the best weapon, but unfortunately, it’s going to take more than wit to win the war on women that’s being waged in the U.S. right now. Still, the fact that there are razor-sharp ladies like Poehler putting up a very vocal fight is encouraging; if Congress doesn’t let us speak for ourselves, then we’ve got to find a way to be heard. Our freedoms depend on it.
Video courtesy of NBC. If it’s not working above, you can watch it here.